ARTIST ARTIST

ARTIST

My name is Tom, but you can call me Sway. I'm a visual artist based in Chicago and the creator of Sway Parfait.

For me, making art is about creating an escape from reality. I want to take people somewhere more colorful, more eccentric, and more exciting than the world we're used to. I look around and see a society that is constantly being made flatter, safer, more professional, and more optimized. I don't think it should be this way. I see things in my mind that I wish existed in the world - things that are loud, extravagant, and completely unique. I want to bring those things to life. I make my art to add more of this type of beauty to the world.

This is the essence of Visual Indulgence: my philosophy for embracing decadence and rejecting lifeless visual culture. Through Sway Parfait, I'm building a world that puts the extraordinary over the expected.

My artistic process can be described as accumulation followed by refinement. I start by gathering an overwhelming amount of visual information: photography, illustration, textures, symbols, and more. Then, I refine: removing, reorganizing, and combining the various components until they become something cohesive. The most inspiring thing about art for me is the endlessness of the possibilities. The number of inputs you can use and outcomes you can create is truly infinite.

Before visual art, I spent a decade in music, DJing, producing, running live events, and managing artists. Those experiences exposed me to incredibly vibrant art, taught me branding, and connected me to a flourishing creative community that I am still close to today. But that time ultimately taught me something more important: I needed to create work that was undeniably my own. So I walked away to pursue a calling toward visual art that had been growing within me for a long time.

Sway Parfait exists as both my artistic practice and a universe for my definition of beauty. Fine art is the medium today, and my visions extend far beyond that.

At the center of everything I make is a simple belief: society should be more beautiful. It should be more expressive, more unexpected, and more willing to indulge.

Why Sway Parfait?

The name Sway Parfait has evolved in lockstep with my creative journey.

“Sway” came long before I ever even thought of making visual art. Early in college, I heard a friend use the term "Sway Boi" to describe someone cool. I was just beginning to DJ at the time, so I adopted Sway Boi as my music moniker. Over time, the name has become a part of my identity.

“Parfait” arrived years later when I started my first visual art project: an Instagram mood board dedicated to sharing imagery that fascinated me. I filled it with colorful fashion, y2k aesthetics, exotic animals, strange objects, and anything that felt one-of-a-kind.

The name felt fitting because a dessert parfait is flavorful, indulgent, and built from distinct layers that come together to form something richer. That's exactly how I saw my collection of imagery: an assortment of colors, textures, and cultures, each adding another layer to a larger visual experience.

The Sway Parfait mood board took a backseat to music for a while. When I decided to start making my own art, I knew without question this was the identity I would come back to. But this time, I would share my vision by making my own creations.